To just press a key and save a screen snapshot to the hard drive, we must use 3rd party software?

Question

If we can just press a key (such as CTRL-PrtScr) on Windows 7 or Vista and be able to save a screen001.png to the hard drive like a Mac does, that would be convenient.

Sometimes we just want a screen capture to remember the details on screen, or if there is a "confirmation number" on screen and we want to take a snapshot. 9 out of 10 times, we won't need this number again, but just in case.

The current method is to either press PrtScr or use Snipping tool, and both require several steps and choose a file name to save to, and it is not so convenient.

I think some 3rd party software can do that, but is there a very reliable one? Or is there a way to make the existing program meet this requirement? One time I installed a 3rd party screen capture tool and since then the hard drive always look for files for 5 minutes when I start up Vista... something not happening before I installed the capture tool.

Answer 1

I'm using Cropper, but it lacks in some features you might desire (delayed captures, for instance).

Answer 2

A script like this in AutoHotKey would work.

From https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/31439-screen-capture-and-save-to-file-without-opening-ms-paint/

This saves to the user's My Pictures folder. Needs tweaking if you use multiple monitors.

Printscreen::
gosub, imagename
CaptureScreen(0,false,imagesavename)
return

^Printscreen::
gosub, imagename
CaptureScreen(2,false,imagesavename)
return

+Printscreen::
gosub, imagename
CaptureScreen("0,0,1680,1050",false,imagesavename)
return

imagename:
setformat, float, 04.0 ; a better way to add zero padding
count+=1.
imagesavename=%userprofile%\pictures\test%count%.jpg
return

;############# RegionCapture Code is below ########################################################
/* CaptureScreen(aRect, bCursor, sFileTo)
1) If the optional parameter bCursor is True, captures the cursor too.
2) If the optional parameter sFileTo is 0, set the image to Clipboard.
   If it is omitted or "", saves to screen.bmp in the script folder,
   otherwise to sFileTo which can be BMP/JPG/PNG/GIF/TIF.
3) If aRect is 0/1/2, captures the screen/active window/client area of active window.
4) aRect can be comma delimited sequence of coordinates, e.g., "Left, Top, Right, Bottom" or "Left, Top, Right, Bottom, Width_Zoomed, Height_Zoomed".
   In this case, only that portion of the rectangle will be captured. Additionally, in the latter case, zoomed to the new width/height, Width_Zoomed/Height_Zoomed.
Build date is 20-12-2007
Example:
CaptureScreen(0)
CaptureScreen(1)
CaptureScreen(2)
CaptureScreen("100, 100, 200, 200")
CaptureScreen("100, 100, 200, 200, 400, 400")   ; Zoomed
*/

/* Convert(sFileFr, sFileTo)
Convert("C:\image.bmp", "C:\image.jpg")
Convert(0, "C:\clip.png")   ; Save the bitmap in the clipboard to sFileTo if sFileFr is "" or 0.
*/
CaptureScreen(aRect = 0, bCursor = False, sFile = "")
{
    If  !aRect
    {
        SysGet, Mon, Monitor, 1
        nL := MonLeft
        nT := MonTop
        nW := MonRight - MonLeft
        nH := MonBottom - MonTop
    }
    Else If aRect = 1
        WinGetPos, nL, nT, nW, nH, A
    Else If aRect = 2
    {
        WinGet, hWnd, ID, A
        VarSetCapacity(rt, 16, 0)
        DllCall("GetClientRect" , "Uint", hWnd, "Uint", &rt)
        DllCall("ClientToScreen", "Uint", hWnd, "Uint", &rt)
        nL := NumGet(rt, 0, "int")
        nT := NumGet(rt, 4, "int")
        nW := NumGet(rt, 8)
        nH := NumGet(rt,12)
    }
    Else
    {
        StringSplit, rt, aRect, `,, %A_Space%%A_Tab%
        nL := rt1
        nT := rt2
        nW := rt3 - rt1
        nH := rt4 - rt2
        znW := rt5
        znH := rt6
    }

    hDC := DllCall("GetDC", "Uint", 0)
    mDC := DllCall("CreateCompatibleDC", "Uint", hDC)
    hBM := DllCall("CreateCompatibleBitmap", "Uint", hDC, "int", nW, "int", nH)
    oBM := DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC, "Uint", hBM)
    DllCall("BitBlt", "Uint", mDC, "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", nW, "int", nH, "Uint", hDC, "int", nL, "int", nT, "Uint", 0x40000000 | 0x00CC0020)
    If  bCursor
        CaptureCursor(mDC, nL, nT)
    DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC, "Uint", oBM)
    DllCall("DeleteDC", "Uint", mDC)
    If  znW && znH
        hBM := Zoomer(hDC, hBM, nW, nH, znW, znH)
    If  sFile = 0
        SetClipboardData(hBM)
    Else    Convert(hBM, sFile)
    DllCall("DeleteObject", "Uint", hBM)
    DllCall("ReleaseDC", "Uint", 0, "Uint", hDC)
}

CaptureCursor(hDC, nL, nT)
{
    VarSetCapacity(mi, 20, 0)
    mi := Chr(20)
    DllCall("GetCursorInfo", "Uint", &mi)
    bShow   := NumGet(mi, 4)
    hCursor := NumGet(mi, 8)
    xCursor := NumGet(mi,12)
    yCursor := NumGet(mi,16)

    VarSetCapacity(ni, 20, 0)
    DllCall("GetIconInfo", "Uint", hCursor, "Uint", &ni)
    xHotspot := NumGet(ni, 4)
    yHotspot := NumGet(ni, 8)
    hBMMask  := NumGet(ni,12)
    hBMColor := NumGet(ni,16)

    If  bShow
        DllCall("DrawIcon", "Uint", hDC, "int", xCursor - xHotspot - nL, "int", yCursor - yHotspot - nT, "Uint", hCursor)
    If  hBMMask
        DllCall("DeleteObject", "Uint", hBMMask)
    If  hBMColor
        DllCall("DeleteObject", "Uint", hBMColor)
}

Zoomer(hDC, hBM, nW, nH, znW, znH)
{
    mDC1 := DllCall("CreateCompatibleDC", "Uint", hDC)
    mDC2 := DllCall("CreateCompatibleDC", "Uint", hDC)
    zhBM := DllCall("CreateCompatibleBitmap", "Uint", hDC, "int", znW, "int", znH)
    oBM1 := DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC1, "Uint",  hBM)
    oBM2 := DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC2, "Uint", zhBM)
    DllCall("SetStretchBltMode", "Uint", mDC2, "int", 4)
    DllCall("StretchBlt", "Uint", mDC2, "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", znW, "int", znH, "Uint", mDC1, "int", 0, "int", 0, "int", nW, "int", nH, "Uint", 0x00CC0020)
    DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC1, "Uint", oBM1)
    DllCall("SelectObject", "Uint", mDC2, "Uint", oBM2)
    DllCall("DeleteDC", "Uint", mDC1)
    DllCall("DeleteDC", "Uint", mDC2)
    DllCall("DeleteObject", "Uint", hBM)
    Return  zhBM
}

Convert(sFileFr = "", sFileTo = "")
{
    If  !sFileTo
         sFileTo := %imagesavename%
    SplitPath, sFileTo, , , sExtTo
    hGdiPlus := DllCall("LoadLibrary", "str", "gdiplus.dll")
    VarSetCapacity(si, 16, 0), si := Chr(1)
    DllCall("gdiplus\GdiplusStartup", "UintP", pToken, "Uint", &si, "Uint", 0)
    DllCall("gdiplus\GdipGetImageEncodersSize", "UintP", nCount, "UintP", nSize)
    VarSetCapacity(ci, nSize)
    DllCall("gdiplus\GdipGetImageEncoders", "Uint", nCount, "Uint", nSize, "Uint", &ci)

    Loop,   %nCount%
    {
        If  !InStr(Ansi4Unicode(NumGet(ci, 76 * (A_Index - 1) + 44)), "." . sExtTo)
            Continue
        pCodec := &ci + 76 * (A_Index - 1)
            Break
    }

    If  !sFileFr
    {
        DllCall("OpenClipboard", "Uint", 0)
        If   DllCall("IsClipboardFormatAvailable", "Uint", 2) && (hBM:=DllCall("GetClipboardData", "Uint", 2))
        DllCall("gdiplus\GdipCreateBitmapFromHBITMAP", "Uint", hBM, "Uint", 0, "UintP", pImage)
        DllCall("CloseClipboard")
    }
    Else If sFileFr Is Integer
        DllCall("gdiplus\GdipCreateBitmapFromHBITMAP", "Uint", sFileFr, "Uint", 0, "UintP", pImage)
    Else    DllCall("gdiplus\GdipLoadImageFromFile", "Uint", Unicode4Ansi(wFileFr,sFileFr), "UintP", pImage)

    If  pImage
        DllCall("gdiplus\GdipSaveImageToFile", "Uint", pImage, "Uint", Unicode4Ansi(wFileTo,sFileTo), "Uint", pCodec, "Uint", 0), DllCall("gdiplus\GdipDisposeImage", "Uint", pImage)

    DllCall("gdiplus\GdiplusShutdown" , "Uint", pToken)
    DllCall("FreeLibrary", "Uint", hGdiPlus)
}

SetClipboardData(hMem, nFormat = 2)
{
    DetectHiddenWindows, On
    Process, Exist
    WinGet, hAHK, ID, ahk_pid %ErrorLevel%
    DllCall("OpenClipboard", "Uint", hAHK)
    DllCall("EmptyClipboard")
    DllCall("SetClipboardData", "Uint", nFormat, "Uint", hMem)
    DllCall("CloseClipboard")
}

Unicode4Ansi(ByRef wString, sString)
{
    nSize := DllCall("MultiByteToWideChar", "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0, "Uint", &sString, "int", -1, "Uint", 0, "int", 0)
    VarSetCapacity(wString, nSize * 2)
    DllCall("MultiByteToWideChar", "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0, "Uint", &sString, "int", -1, "Uint", &wString, "int", nSize)
    Return  &wString
}

Ansi4Unicode(pString)
{
    nSize := DllCall("WideCharToMultiByte", "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0, "Uint", pString, "int", -1, "Uint", 0, "int",  0, "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0)
    VarSetCapacity(sString, nSize)
    DllCall("WideCharToMultiByte", "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0, "Uint", pString, "int", -1, "str", sString, "int", nSize, "Uint", 0, "Uint", 0)
    Return  sString
}


    #space::
    imagesavename=C:\test.bmp
    ; call the screencapture function
    CaptureScreen(0,false,imagesavename)
Return